Dyer’s Rants

Hi Everyone,

Well-finally a sunny day-I’ll be heading to the greenhouse to continue dying a Loopy Ewe order soon. Thought I would record a few happenings. I finally got my booth!!! Now-the location is probably as bad as it gets-but I’ll make the best of it-booth number is 1252 which means I am at the very back. My booth is one of the smaller ones-a 10′x5′ space. I’m trying to save my pennies during this 1st go round until I get a bit more experience under my belt. So I have to make every inch of space count. From now to the show-I will be planning my display and working on it here-take pics of it and then recreate it at the show. Lucky for me- my office is in the house-in what would be the parlor and I have lots of room to fool around. Here is part of my space where I use the computer-do bills, skein and label yarn…

I just got in some of the frame work for the display and spent yesterday setting it up, getting my dimensions right and figuring out possible combinations. I’m using a black grid system that I can attach lots of stuff including these cool torso shaped hangers, some baskets for yarn and thingies that hold hats. My coolest find are these black wire mannequins that seem to work well with the black grids and give a french dress shop sort of feel. I actually got them-not from a traditional source that specializes in store accessories-but from Pottery Barn-and on sale-yea!

Anyway-I’m feeling a bit more confident as things start to come together. I still have to order signage and find something to display socks and mittens. I’ve gotten a small printer so I can print up receipts-the convention center has draped covered space dividers and a table and chairs….So I’m getting there. I need to work on color cards big time-since putting those together is tedious and time consuming. And I need to put my quarter page ad together for the trade show directory….and the beat goes on.

So-back to the dying and the Loopy Ewe. Here is a pick of “Under the Sea” in the sock yarn soon be wisked off to Missouri and maybe onto your needles!

And I got a small order out for Knit Wits in Virginia Beach. I need to get back to it-catch you later!

Thanks for visiting!

Hi Everyone,

Another milepost….my 1st newsletter went out today, finally. I have been working on my template with the help of my web geek Scott (he knows I mean that is the nicest way) who makes all the bells and whistles work. It is a work in progress-we’ll be adding more features as needed. I’m featuring new stuff and a calendar of up coming events such as TNNA. And time to time-ideas about creating magic using color in knitting and spinning. I am also highlighting yarn shops that carry Scarlet Fleece so that not only can customers learn of a great place to get yarn-but other yarn shops can gain some perspective about what works to them. I’m trying to build a community of yarn purchasers and yarn sellers-we can all benefit to this networking. So go to the homepage of www.scarletfleece.com and sign up.

I am introducing another colorway-one that is perhaps is the most surprising. It is called “Under the Sea” and reminds me of a trip I took to Cancun for my honeymoon. We went snorkeling and it truly was an experience. I did not believe such a brightly colored environment actually existed outside of dreams or a Jacque Cousteau  TV special (ok-for those less than 40 years old-he was this guy that got into studying fish went on these adventures on a boat called the Calypso and he televised these cool specials?…..ok never mind.) Anyway-the color combo looked amazing in the dye pot-the colors reacting together was like a brightly colored school of fish swimming by, reflecting the sunlight. I do not think I photographed it well enough-what do you think?

Pictures is the Impression yarn. One of my pattern designers is working on a comfy cabled jacket with it-can’t wait to see it!

Here is the color banner with all the inspiration pics…

Click on it for the large version.

Well-still dying more Loopy Ewe Yarn-better get back to it-have a great Spring Day-celebrate by knitting outside!

Thanks for visiting!

Greetings All,

Happy Spring has arrived with all of the daffodils and trees budding out. Each day I find new gifts in my garden left like little presents from the previous owner. I am truly blessed. I can’t wait to put a fishing rod in my pond. And this is the season to celebrate color. I am having fun coming up with more colorways as I work on orders. A new yarn shop in Pennsylvania-Mad About Ewes (so cute!) will soon be getting their order. It has been a pleasure working in the greenhouse sharing space with my little seedlings. Here is some of the progress of this order:

I am busy adding more products to Scarlet Fleece. I have always thought of adding roving to our line-and with more and more knitters taking up spinning and needle felting-I have added “Wool Paint”. These are either “skeins of 4 oz of wool roving or 8 oz bags. Here are the skeins:

And with Spring everywhere-more colors are in the make. You know one of my fave inspirations is food. I love all kinds of berries…..

And so you have Raisin-Berry-a yummy combo of blues and purples.

And the banner is this……

I am always looking for color when I am eating!!!!

Well-another colorway coming your way soon. I am thinking about making posters for yarn shops using the banners….mmmmm

My mind is filled with more colors and to-do lists for the trade show. In the days to come I will be working on color cards, getting our new newsletter: The Scarlet Letter out hopefully on Friday-and dying more yarn for the Loopy Ewe! And yes-new colors will be shipping to the Loopy Ewe soon!

Still no news on selling the house-8 months and counting-yikes!!!! This is making me CRAZY….can’t get a dye studio until our old house sells. Say a prayer!!!

Thanks for visiting!!!

Hi Everyone,

Well-as of late yesterday-I have power AND hot water in the greenhouse and as I take a break to type this-pots are bubbling away. I got an order for Nature Yarn going and some yarn for models of new patterns being designed as we speak. (I am sooooo excited about the new patterns-subject for another soon to be written blog.) Waiting for another shipment of sock yarn and will soon be dying yarn for a new Scarlet friend-Mad About Ewes in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania-(welcome Libby!!!)

Well-another colorway was actually inspired by my friend Michelle’s living room. She has very European taste, not only in the clean lines of her furniture, but in her color selection. She has this very bold nonobjective painting on her wall using oranges into red and circles of cobalt blue. This is hanging over her vibrant red leather sofa. Of course putting these colors together in a yarn-they tend to bump into one another and sharp contrast is lost. But I like the warm flower-like effect-infact I thought the colorway looked very much like a hibiscus flower. (Can you tell I am yearning for Spring?) The example has a quality that is very painterly with orange moving into red and back again….

…and if you look closer at the flower’s center-there is a bit of a blue cast-so I minimized the blue-using just adding a touch for depth.

And here you have the Painted Merino in the Hibiscus colorway.

And as you have seen before-I enjoy a little photoshop play so here is the banner for Hibiscus:

Well, I am currently working on 1 or 2 more colorways and will be adding colorwashes. Today felt good with this early taste of Spring in the air and it is fun celebrating with flower colors. Thinking about my garden helps make the work a bit more enjoyable!

Thanks for visiting!

Greetings all,

Today is a day of challenges as I am in problem solving mode. Now my blog can get pictures in the old postings-now just the wrong pictures-will continue to work on. The other problems involve living with an old house syndrome. I have my handy man here to connect hot water in the green house-actually he came yesterday. I have hot water (had a leak but fixing that) but now no power. I have 2 orders to get out and yarn to dye for my pattern designers to create models for the trade show. I did not sleep well last night-handy man came back today-and they are working on the problem-somehow the greenhouse is connected to my fridge in the kitchen and that stopped working too. Arrrgh!!! I am itching to get going on the dying, but I will catch up with you instead.

Now some are asking why I am dying in the greenhouse? Well….my plan is to have a dedicated dying space-and there is a plan to build a dye studio. This will take place when my old house sells-in the meantime-I need to hold onto what funds I have. So even though I am heavy into gardening-I have to share gardening needs with dying needs. The greenhouse has water and a power supply (or it will hopefully by end of today) and it is not in my kitchen. And I did not have a heart to take over my husband’s garage. (He’s never had a garage before and he is really getting into his man-cave.) And the greenhouse is full of natural light end even though it is a challenge-it is pleasant to work in. It stays toasty on the cold days as long as the sun is out and it is no matter if I drip dye on the concrete floor. And it has tons of shelving. And for marketing purposes I guess I could say that I am jumping on the “going green” bandwagon like no other! (hee hee hee) Ok-not really.

Sooooo….here is a sneak preview into color number 2. I was sitting waiting for my sons to get hair cuts at a hair salon and flipping though Vogue Magazine to see what the hot shapes and colors were going to be for Spring…and I spotted a dress with these bright happy cheerful colors reminding me of sunflowers. But more orange. I used to hate yellows and oranges. But lately, these colors are such a treat to see-especially in the dead of winter. And sunflowers are such a pick-me-up. This print had a bit of black to set it off-maybe sunflower seeds or a visiting monarch came to mind. I used to grow Mexican Sunflowers in my yard-very easy to grow and the butterflies loved them:

And another sunflower like flower are black-eyed susans….to me they say summer-they have a bit more yellow. So I kept these notions in my mind. I wanted a range of yellows into orange. And I wanted just little pops of black-like the monarch. To get black-and avoid grey mud with a bleeding black…I did the oranges and yellows first in the dye pot-let them play and blend a little as the pot heated up. When that process was complete-with the pot hot-I poured little slivers of black. With the pot hot-the yarn grabs the black and exhausts the black dye quickly avoiding mixing with any orange-because the orange and yellows had already been absorbed in the dye. The technique worked perfectly and here you see the yarn drying…

And here is the skeined Tubular x2 …

and the Painted Merino….

And for fun….my Mexican Sunflower Banner!!!!

And so you have it-color number 2…..

This is one of the few colorways that actually came out exactly as I envisioned it…a rare occurrence. Many are happy accidents….oops-did I say that out loud?

The Riding the Rainbow Series continue next time-pray for my power to come back so I don’t have dying withdrawals!

Thanks for visiting!

Greetings Everyone,

As you might have noticed-this blog had faced some technical difficulties-missing picture-itis. I will be slowly building back the pictures from past posts. But in the meantime-wanted to head out full steam ahead with new posts.

Well-since last I blogged-so much excitement at Scarlet Fleece. I am in the throws of creating the 2008 colors and I want you along for the rainbow ride. I am also getting pattern submission from some talented designers-as I ready for the trade show where the new Fall stuff is introduced-yes decided this Cinderella is finally going to the Ball and you-if you choose to visit with me, will see what it is like to attend the largest trade show in the yarn industry. I have attended it in the past as a yarn retailer-very fun-many classes, lots of shopping. But now I need to bring my A-game and show what sets me apart from the other dyers out there-and hence we are back at the subject at hand COLOR! I feel-not to toot my own horn….well ok-a few toots here…I think it is my colors, how they are used and combined that sets Scarlet Fleece apart. And I use uncommon inspiration….and a vibrant dye-that to my knowlege is not used a lot in this country (based on info from my dye supplier.)

Ok-how do I decide what colors to dye. Well-sometimes I will notice as I go on my day-a wierd-but fascinating color combos that freak me out (my red pommeranian lying on a slate patio and whala-Copper Smoke.) Sometimes I have a notion or feeling based on a childhood memory that comes to the surface. (1st ballet I went to when I was 5 years old and LOVED all the shades of purple tutu’s-and you have Purple Mountain.) Sometimes it is based on some yummy desert, (Coffee and Raspberry Pie-need I say more?) Sometimes I just have to look outside in my garden. One time I noticed a wild combo as I was rinsing out dye cups in the sink. In other words-inspiration is all around tapping us on the shoulder and if you are in tuned to it-you turn around and notice.

So what am I working on now? Well you lucky people get to see the colors first-before they are out in the stores. And you can also see them in my gallery-so here is one that is official:

1st is Bird of Paradise. I used to live in Hawaii as a small child and this was a common flower in this tropical setting.

Now if you look closely-you will see orange, pink and a bit of blue and here you see the dye pot

And the yarn…here in Painted Merino and It’s Tubularx2

And for a little photoshop fun-a Bird of Paradise Banner:

ok-spelling is not my forte’…I will be doing a little show and tell in the next blog for colorway Number 2. A little hint…spring garden is on my mind-and I love seeing the sun for a few more minutes everyday. ….thanks for checking in!

Hi Everyone,

Yesterday, my family and I were treated to a rare snow day! This was what I awoke to!

It was a bit wet-but so wonderful to see what what this place looks like dressed in white. I was not disappointed. This place is as close to bliss as I can afford. I have so many hopes and dreams for this place. The challenge is what to choose to do first. I have some farm ideas, I have business ideas, I have family ideas. My challenge is to set a path and to focus. My down fall sometimes. I am a horrible time waster. I feel my day is successful if I complete the tasks I set out for myself. Though as the day goes by-I am always editing that list. But on the other hand, I need to be in the moment. That means not to multi-task. So maybe I need to not be so out-come oriented. I need to enjoy the moment. Ok-enough of the zen talk.

One accomplishment is the goat paddock. Goats can finally get out and enjoy the view. Here they are in the snow yesterday.

I will tell you some sad news-Snow’s baby did not make it. I had to intervene because labor was going soooo long. The baby was too big and at the last minute I had to get her to a vet. He did manage to get the baby out. But she was damaged-could not suck. I tube fed the baby her mother’s milk hoping she could learn to suck-but after 3 days-she went. I am always saddened-but I do not feel she would have had a good quality to her life.
I am feeling positive that I am finally back to dying! This is not my permanent dye studio-but a green house will do until the studio is built. It does feel good to have a dedicated space that I do not have to clean up for dinner. It is not great shakes-but I do have water-soon to have hot water, shelving and space and power for the burners. Here is it is pictured during the snow day yesterday:

Currently I am working to get Nature Yarns, Celtic Knot and Holly Spring Homespun orders. I am also working on getting kits together for pattern writers. I am determined to have some wonderful patterns put together in time for the TNNA show in June. So-many irons on the fire-talk to again soon!

Hi All,

Well life is moving along at the new place. I am trying to get moving on business matters so that I can get an income again. I am interviewing pattern designers so I might have something to offer at TNNA-I am excited about the talent that is our there and how they will interpret color in their designs. One of the missions of this business is to give opportunity to up and coming pattern designers. I feel there is a lot of untapped talent out there.

The other challenge is to get my dye area up and running. I will be dying out of the green house until my dye studio is built. I am having water issues though-that I will be working on later today-always problems to solve.

It is a misty morning here in rural Virginia

and another pressing issue on my mind is that several of my goats are due to give birth and we moved them (via the van and truck) to the barn last week in anticipation.

Well-sadly with the cold weather-even having the goat in a shelter with nice bedding-we lost the 1st two babies. It is always so hard loosing a baby-makes me feel that I am failing them-like I have no business raising these guys. I always talk to friends that are also raising animals-and they assure me-they would have done no different. Death is part of it and one has to know that going in-but I never get used to it. I do have to remind myself that the goats are not pets. Kind of need to approach this whole farm thing business like-but my heart tells me otherwise.

A few days later, the weather warms and another baby is born-Marshmallow.

He is a life loving cutie. He is very happy in his barn. You can tell by the dancing-healthy babies that are nursing well and feel loved-show it by dancing. Life is good again. My husband and I have been putting in time building a corral so that the girls can get some sunshine. No adequate fencing was included so we have to start from scratch. We have dug holes and tamped in 11 posts for our 30×40 corral off the back of the barn.

It will incorporated into a larger pasture and used for a feeding area and an area to separate birthing mothers. It has been 5 years since I built a fence and I feel my age as I tamp in all those posts with a 15 pound tamping rod-knowing that a much larger fence project is on the horizon. We have stretched the woven wire and will add straight wire to the top. And we have to put in a gate. And we will be done!

And not too soon. As I type this another girl is in labor-I am about to go check on her again. She is bellowing and I feel her pain. Here is a pic of her progress.

Again-this farming thing is not for sissies!

Stay Tuned…

Greetings all and Happy New Year!

This is the start of one of my resolutions-to blog several times a week-maybe not all with pics-but with plenty of sharing-and hopefully along the way you will get a sense of what it is like to farm, dye, raise children and explore knitting, spinning and design-and keep balance and sanity. Well the last 8 weeks has been some of the most challenging in all of my life. My husband and I had our hearts set on buying this 100 year old farm with a great house, barn, green house, gardens and very large pond.

We were struggling to sell our house-decluttering, repairing, painting and cleaning-doing all the right stuff-per all the home shows on HGTV. But this market is…well…so many words come to mind-all of which are not polite. But the owner of the house we want to buy suggested a lease purchase-a bit risky-but it allows us to hold onto this house, move in and have most of the payments go toward the purchase of the house. Fortunately-I just sold my yarn shop-so we’ve been able to swing it. It does mean putting the building of my dye studio on hold until the old house sells-I’ll be dying in the green house in the mean time. -a subject for another blog.

So the race was on-getting this old farm house ready for the Olivers. This meant cleaning with a capitol C and repairing-replacing a couple of windows, adding carpet in the bedroom and a new floor in another room. and PAINTING! (all letters need to be capitalized!) Because my husband had the regular job-all of these challenges and then some-fell to me. So I abandoned Scarlet Fleece for 8 weeks and began the daily trek to the house to clean and paint and deal with contractors. The painting was particularly tough because most of the surfaces had to brushed on. But it looked FABULOUS. The dining room, kitchen, sunroom and both kids bedrooms got new paint.

All the while I tried to order most Christmas gifts online, spent evenings knitting a sweater for Kevin and socks for my step father. Of course-my body can only take so much-I came down with a cold that nearly morfed into pneumonia. After a trip to the doctor-3 days in bed and loading up with antibiotics, decongestants and Advair, I plugged away.

We moved in the Saturday before Christmas and got our tree and yes-Santa managed to find the Olivers.

So where is my new wheel going you might ask? Well, you might…here it is in the the library and music room!

And our animals have learned that at this time of year-it is good to go orange. Hunting seems to be a favorite past time around here.

Well-tune in next time when I share with you what it is like to move goats before the fence is built while babies are coming. And later installments will share with you my plans for Scarlet Fleece this year and how I go about getting all of this done! I pray for a sense of humor that will get me through. Hey-maybe I will loose weight facing all of these challenges! Ya think?!

Hi Everyone,

My life has been filled with many delights, a bit of work, taking in the current season and growing fiberly. Part of my personal mission is to learn all I can about the many fibers out there and so I recently took advantage of a silk workshop through my spinning guild, Clotho’s Children. Robin Russo, from Vermont-a woman of many talents-came and shared her knowledge of all things silk in a 2 day workshop last weekend.  I took many pictures-mostly the 1st day that I put together in an album in my picture gallery-I will share a few in this blog-but check out the rest when you get a chance. I cannot tell you how much I thoroughly enjoyed getting immersed in the world of silk. My only reservation came at the thought of actually touching the partially formed silk moths-I guess from my years in New Orleans and all those cockroaches down there. But in the end it was not so bad-I learned so much.

We had a lecture on the history and cultivation of silk-learned about all the different types of silk and silk moths…

And we learned some methods of harvesting this silk. One can take the cocoons, put them in water and heat them a bit and start to wind the fiber directly off of them…

Now this method still leaves the gummy residue on the silk that makes it stiff when dry-but this can be removed with a soda ash solution. Another common method of harvesting is by removing the residue while the silk is still in cocoon form, and while wet, stretching out the cocoon (removing the dead worms inside as well as their shed skins) and stretching it on a frame to make hankies. One would stretch many cocoons over the same frame and let it dry, removing the “hankies” and you can then dye and spin from that. We all worked at this skill-some more successfully that others. This was the part that was a bit yucky-and the worms have a distinctive oder.  But I have dealt with yuck in farming…so I sucked it up-all quite interesting…

Then we all tried our hand at making silk paper. We first worked with natural colored bombyx, wild silk and tussah, as well other natural additives-money plant, milk weed, and hydrangia…

We used tulle to hold everything together and different solutions such as mod podge painted on when dry actually creates the “paper”.

We also used other similar techniques using Robin’s beautifully dyed silk-it was sooo fun working with the color and having the opportunity to just play…

We got to add a bit of glitz, and rayon string. Here are my examples of the silk paper. I’m not sure what I will do with it-maybe notecards or a journal cover-or just framed wall art…

Now we did all of this just on the 1st day. The second day was filled with felt making. I did not take many pictures that day-do engrossed in the activities. The silk felt needs to involve wool so that felting can take place. The blue-in my finished felt-used “prefelt” with silk placed on it. The multi-colored example was a layer or wool on silk gauze and then a thin layer of dyed silk. Making the felt involved a bit of elbow grease and rolls of pool cover and PVC pipe.

The second half of the day was all spinning. We spun samples of many of the different types of silk available. We started with the crudest such as noile-short strands of silk with bits of worm pieces and nubbles of silk, wild silk, tussah, all the way to bombyx brick. We added our yarn to the wonderful silk binders we were given-here is my effort….

Finally we tried our hand at spinning silk embroidery thread. Yikes!!! I have barely gotten around to spinning lace weight yarn. And with my lendrum-there was a lot of pumping with the foot to get the needed twist. But I managed to create a not too terrible thread. We used this thread to embroider some felted wool to create a sewing needle case…

But the day was not over yet. All during this workshop-I could not help but notice 2 beautiful cherry saxony spinning wheels and came to learn that Robin’s hubby, Pat, builds about 7-8 a year as well as musical instruments.  These wheels-with their turned spindles, carvings on the wheel and technically perfect functional designs-were a work of art. I had made a promise to myself-when I sold the retail shop-I would finally get a large saxony production wheel. I had thought I would get a Schacht Reeves-which are wonderful. But to get to talk to Pat about his craft and try the wheels and marvel at the Canadian design I decided I had found the object of my dreams . I took one home. Spinners truly bond with their wheels-they become extentions of themselves. And I feel honored to be entrusted with such a tool. I fantasize about all the yummy yarn to be created and I get giddy about all the hours of pure pleasure we will spend together . Ok-I know I am getting a bit carried away….but take a look…

My friend Alice names her wheels-I have not gone so far as to do that…but maybe…

Ok-I do have a business to run-and I have been busy working on patterns. Here are pics of the finished Criss-Cross Mini-stole that will go with the hat pictured in a previous post. And I have started a vest-stole using multible colorways.

And finally-one more pic to share-only because I love serendipity. I was snapping the usual Halloween pics of my darling little monsters, and my youngest happened to be standing in front of the TV while Jeopardy was on and one of the answers were showing on the screen just over his shoulder. It reads as if the question was “Who is Ian, son of Kathy?” Can you make out the “answer”?  …”Half man, half beast, son of the Queen of Crete.”

Happy Fall to all!!!!